


Through the Looking Glass

by Anonymous



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Don't copy to another site, M/M, ambiguous consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-05
Updated: 2005-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:35:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22861870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Harry has questions and Snape answers them.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Severus Snape, Remus Lupin/Severus Snape
Kudos: 4
Collections: Anonymous





	Through the Looking Glass

Silence is such a tenuous circumstance, eagerly sought out by some and often interrupted by others. Of course, when one believed they'd finally attained that state, a Gryffindor had to go and break it.

"Do you still think about him?"

"It isn't any of your concern."

"Why'd you ever do it in the first place, honestly?"

"How many times-" Snape sighed, pinching his nose, a flash of pale skin lit by what little moonlight filtered into the room.

"I know. I just… he was like a father to me after…" Harry shifted in the overly large bed, his fingers reaching out across the cool sheets next to him. He squinted in the darkened room trying to see the blurry face that sat only a mere metre away from him. 

"I would ask what sort of imbecile asks questions like that. However, it would be pointless as the answer is staring me in the face."

"You're incorrigible."

"Watch your tongue; you might trip using such large words."

"Since when do you-" Harry rolled onto his side, slipping his hands under his pillow, clinging to it in his need for contact with something warm.

"Care?"

"Yeah."

"I always have." Snape stretched in the time-worn armchair, the upholstery fraying in several locations and a distinct smell of cherry tobacco permeating the fabric. He could feel the hard wood through the thinning batting, making sleeping upright all the more uncomfortable.

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"Go to sleep."

"Don't want to."

"We can't have everything we want."

"You don't have to remind me." Harry buried his face into the pillow, angling it just perfect so he could still see Snape's silhouette out of the corner of his eye.

"Then quit being so petulant."

"Petu… what?" 

"Go to sleep."

"Fine." Harry laid there for what felt like ages, attempting to sleep, trying to ignore every rustle of fabric as Snape moved in the chair. It was only a matter of minutes before he spoke again, "Severus?"

"What?" Snape hissed, quite annoyed by Harry's insistence in staying up.

"Good night." Harry had wanted to say something else, but the aggravation in Snape's voice caused him to refrain from speaking his mind, for once.

"Go to sleep." Snape relaxed into the chair, finally finding just the right position to be able to feign comfort.

"Severus?" Harry whispered. 

"What are you? Five?" Snape snapped, his fingers digging into the fauteuil arms.

"No. I'm seventeen." Harry retorted indignantly, knowing it would only further annoy Snape, but completely unable to resist the temptation. Old habits, after all, died hard.

"You don't act like it. Go to sleep."

Silence was attained for mere seconds this time before Harry rolled onto his back, looking up at the ceiling and speaking once more, "Severus?"

"What?"

"Why can't you just answer my questions?"

"I do not have to, nor do I want to. I would, however, like to get some sleep. Good night, Potter." Snape pulled the blanket off his lap and up around his shoulders as the fire began to die down. As much as he might want to, putting another log on would only serve to cause them to run out that much more quickly, and leave them both cold and dark for several days before it was safe to venture out once more.

"Good night." A pause, "Severus?"

"Last question, Potter. One more and you won't be speaking for a week." It was an empty threat, but that didn't mean Snape hadn't the intention of following through, with whatever means were available.

"Isn't that chair uncomfortable?"

"No."

"You're lying."

Snape didn't deign a response. Why should he show compunction to a haughty Gryffindor? 

"Severus?"

"Good night, Potter."

"This bed is pretty big; no one will care if we share it." Harry spread himself as much as he could across the bed proving that they could share the bed and not even have to touch.

"I care."

"Why? It isn't like we haven't fucked."

"You fancy us lovers of some sort?" Snape snorted, wishing that the chair really weren't so uncomfortable.

"I thou-"

"You thought wrong."

"But I-"

"That is beside the point."

"Just come to bed. They won't know just because we're sharing the bed. I doubt Mrs. Weasley meant for you to sleep in that chair."

The soft thud of the ragged blanket hitting the floor was followed by the creaking of old wood. The blankets shifted and Snape crawled into bed, as far from Harry as he possibly could without appearing as though it were intentional.

"Severus?"

"What?" 

"Thank you."

"Good night, Potter."

"Good night." Harry drifted off to sleep, content to have the added warmth of another body near him. Sometimes it was easier to forget this way. 

*****

Sometimes it was easy to forget that Ron was gone. He'd up and disappeared one day, and upon questioning Dumbledore, Harry was informed it would be more than unlikely that he'd ever see _Ron_ again. Harry wasn't sure what to make of it, but then he was rarely sure what to make of anything the Headmaster said. 

It was even easier to forget when there was a warm, softly snoring body lying next to him. Harry could clearly recall waking up to find himself wrapped in Ron's arms, his scar dully throbbing, a reminder of the nightmares he'd had the night before. Ron had always looked out for him, had done such a good job of it. Harry felt guilty that he hadn't done as good of a job looking out for Ron as he should have. 

Waking up to Snape was an entirely different feeling. He knew that Snape was trying to fill Ron's place in looking over him, though he couldn't be sure why. It wasn't as though Snape had ever liked him. Even if he had, Snape certainly hadn't ever done a good job of showing it. 

A loud voice filtered up though the corridor, pulling Harry out of his thoughts. "Breakfast! Come get it while it's still hot!" Molly called out. 

Harry sat up and stretched, sliding his legs over the edge of the bed and sliding his feet into a pair of warm slippers. He reached for the thick robe hanging on the bedpost and wrapped it tight around him before glancing back at Snape. He probably ought to wake him, but wasn't sure which would be worse, the grumbling that would commence for being woken up or the grumbling that would commence for not being woken up. 

It was an easy enough decision to make, and Harry quietly walked over to the door and stepped out into the hallway, slamming the door closed behind him. He quickly trotted down the steps, ignoring the creaks and managing by a hair's length to not step on the broken stair. The kitchen fire was crackling happily behind the grate, a pouch of Floo powder resting on the brick mantle, unused and unable to be used for the time being.

"G'morning, Mum," Harry murmured, sitting down in one of the many empty chairs. "Where is everyone? Still asleep?"

"Arthur went in to work today and the others are with Dumbledore at Hogwarts. There's a lot of work to get done if they're going to have it ready for the fall." Molly set a plate with toast and a bowl of porridge in front of Harry. "You were in bed when Bill returned last night – he's still sleeping, poor dear is exhausted. I'm sure he'll be out for days. He finally managed to break that last curse on the castle. Such a clever boy."

Harry refrained from pointing out that Bill was hardly a boy and dug into his breakfast as though it were the best tasting thing he'd ever tasted. "How far did they have to walk before they could…" he trailed off. 

"It doesn't matter dear, eat up." Molly finished dishing up the food, setting a serving for Snape across from Harry and placing two more on a tray and heading to Bill's room, directly next to the sitting room. 

Harry watched as she struggled with the doorknob, and was ready to get up and help her when the door gave way. He could see a glimmer of red hair splayed across a pillow and a pile of blankets tucked firmly around Bill's sleeping form. His stomach gave a lurch as he caught sight of Bill's too pale skin, and the thick sheen of sweat coating his face and neck. It seemed that breaking the curse had taken more than a few days out of him. 

"It isn't polite to stare." The door closed as Snape spoke, his long fingers curving elegantly around the knob. "I suggest you eat before it gets cold. Unless, of course, you prefer cold food."

Harry shook his head and took a large bite, staring down at his toast. He didn't even bother to look up as he caught a flash of Snape's dark robes flicker behind him, or as he sat down to eat his own rapidly cooling breakfast. It was funny how quickly food could cool in a toasty room. 

Breakfast was eaten in silence; the only noises were spoons scraping the inside of bowls and the gentle crunching of toast. Harry took a large gulp of water to wash it all down. He took his dishes over to the sink and set them in the tepid water to soak. 

"Meet me in the study in half an hour."

Harry nodded, leaving the kitchen and heading up to the empty bedroom, the one that had been his and Ron's before Molly made him move to the one he now shared with Snape. He walked over to the bed, still neatly made as though it were waiting for Ron to come home, too. Running his fingers over one of the pillows, he felt every muscle in his body clench. Tears stung at his eyes and he screamed out "It's not fair!"

He quickly clamped his mouth shut and threw himself onto the bed, Ron's side, and buried his face in the pillow. It still smelled like Ron. He'd so often wondered why whatever had taken Ron couldn't have taken him instead; or taken both of them. Or why it had been months since the war ended and he was still gone. Why there were no signs of where Ron had gone, why no one seemed as upset about it as he did. 

All he had was questions. Questions no one would answer – as though he were still a child, as though he were incapable of understanding. And even questions that didn't seem like too much were left unanswered. 

Before he knew it, the clock was chiming and it was time to head to Snape's study, for whatever reason Snape had in mind. He tightened his robe and wiped his eyes, sniffling lightly before leaving the room. He slowly walked up the steps and into the room across the hall from their bedroom. It was so odd calling the room he shared with Snape "theirs" especially after leaving the room that still felt like his. 

Harry let the door click shut behind him and bit down on the corner of his lip, looking directly at Snape, curious and nervous about what point he was going to try and make. 

"Do you want to know the answer?" Snape asked, his arms wrapped protectively around his chest, a warm fire flickering in the grate and a table clear of everything but a pensieve. 

"The answer to what?" Harry took a step closer, his fingers losing contact with the smooth wood grain of the door. 

"To the question you so ineloquently have been asking me for the past month."

"Oh. Yeah, I'd like to know." Harry swallowed the lump in his throat that he hadn't even been aware of its forming. 

"Unfortunately, you'll have to deal with a bird's eye view of the memory. It's not working quite properly here. Be sure to brace yourself so you don't get sucked in. Not too sure it will even work that much, but if it does, it might require a bit of work to get you out of there. Do you understand, Potter?"

"Yes, Severus," Harry nodded and edged his way over to the table. He peered over the lip of the pensieve, the silvery contents slowly swirling. He took a deep breath and glanced nervously over at Snape.

"Go on before I change my mind," Snape said irritably. 

Harry grasped tightly to the edges of the small table and submerged his head, watching as the memory slowly took form. 

*****

_The Leaky Cauldron appeared before his eyes, and Harry saw Remus sitting alone in a corner, consoling himself with a bottle of Ogden's Green Label Firewhiskey, a dish of nuts sitting in front of him. He watched as Remus ate them one at a time, oblivious to the dark figure watching him from only a metre away. He looked to be in his early twenties, devastated but youthful, an aura of hope surrounding him._

_Snape stood from his seat and sat across from him. Loath as he was to do so, he knew he should at least try to make amends with the man who'd lost everything; his job, his friends, his drive to do anything. He still hated Remus, but that didn't mean he couldn't set that hatred aside for a night. Not when the Order needed them both._

_Dumbledore had given Snape instructions on where to find Remus and what to do once he found him. "They've let you down. Get over it. They need you, Lupin."_

_"What would you know of it?" Remus slurred, slamming down another shot, his throat burning as it trickled down._

_"More than you'd think." Snape poured himself a shot of the Firewhiskey, closing his eyes as it warmed him from the inside out. He didn't much care for the drink, but he could make an exception this once._

_The memory faded and the next appeared, a different room appearing and Snape pressed firmly against the wall, trapped under the weight of Remus' lithe, muscular form. Their lips mashed together in some ironic twist of an arcane mating ritual._

_As Harry pulled his eyes away from them, he noticed that the room was none other than one of the many rooms for rent at the Leaky Cauldron, and he almost thought that he could actually smell the alcohol wafting off of Severus and Remus as they moved against each other, hands urgently grasping at clothing. Harry sucked in a deep breath as he watched Remus pin Snape with just his hips, dropping his robes aside and pulling off his shirt and exposing a lightly scarred back._

_A shiver ran up Harry's spine, and he could almost imagine his own clothing being shucked as he raptly watched Remus undress himself and Snape, each article of clothing discarded with the utmost care despite the hurried actions. He groaned as Remus' teeth lightly grazed Snape's skin, amazed at how much it felt like it was happening to him._

_Remus spun Snape around pressing his face and chest against the wall, slicking his fingers with conjured lube and shoving them into Snape, briefly preparing him before coating his own cock and thrusting into him. One hand held Snape's head to the wall, the other wrapped firmly around his cock, tugging and stroking in an offbeat rhythm as he fucked Snape, breath hot against his neck._

_Low growls escaped Remus' mouth and grunted with each thrust into him, teeth grazing his ear._

_Harry thought that maybe he'd seen enough and that he should let the rest of Snape's memory be his own, but when he moved to pull away, he noticed the hand holding his head down, heard the muffled sounds of skin slapping his own, teeth against his neck and long fingers firmly wrapped around his cock. He was surrounded by sensation, and his eyes were glued to the scene in the pensieve, amazed at how similar the memory and his current situation were._

_Gasping, Harry came, Snape smearing his semen along his cock as he continued to stroke, his own thrusts increasing in pace and intensity. Harry watched through narrowly open eyelids as Snape came, and then Remus came. Harry moaned as Snape came inside him, his mind swirling with the absurdity of the situation. He struggled to catch what Remus was whispering to Snape, but his mind was Hazy, and he could feel himself being pulled away._

*****

Panting, Harry looked up from his place on the floor, his robe and nightshirt pushed up above his waist, his legs spread wide and cooling come still coating his cock. 

"Question answered, Potter?" Snape asked, looking as though he hadn't participated at all, save for his reddened lips and flushed cheeks. 

Harry nodded, surprised at just how many questions, including ones he hadn't asked were answered. "One more question though – when's Ron coming back?"

"I can't answer that."

"But you know?" Harry bit his lip and looked hopefully up at Snape. 

"You'll know one day soon enough."


End file.
